SATYA 2 MOVIE REVIEW

The gritty elements that elevated the 1998 thriller Satya to dizzying heights as the pioneer gangster movie that influenced numerous such movies worked well for its time. Perhaps it is the understated screenplay written by Anurag Kashyap and Saurabh Shukla and masterful direction by RGV himself. But 15 years later, as RGV attempts to recreate the magic (with of course the help of neither of his writers), he hired Radhika Anand to write Satya 2.

Firstly, movies about Mumbai’s underworld have been done to death even the man who is responsible for spiraling the genre cannot do justice to this rather outdated formula. And then there is the classical quandary of casting an underworld movie. Satya worked because of its actors – the rustic Chakravarthy as Satya and Manoj Bajpai as Bhiku Mhatre can never be replaced. Certainly never by someone with the caliber of Puneet Singh Ratn, who dons this sequel’s lead role.

Despite its rather deceptive title, Satya 2 only shares the theme of its predecessor and nothing else. The movie is about an obscure gentleman who lands in Mumbai in and launches himself into the business of underworld by starting a company, titled, hold your breath here – Company. Thus the movie revolves around the lives of its lead and others involved – his wife, a fledgling film star, a flamboyant real estate businessman and so on.

Puneet as Satya looks stylish and dapper as a suave gangster who runs a crime outfit. It would help if he could act but Puneet’s attempts hardly ever rise above a mere gaze of surprise or consistent perplexity. Those tresses and the stubble serve as a way to hide his helplessness at emoting. Puneet, however, looks like he is trying earnestly – which is a good thing.

The less said the better about the movie’s female lead Anaika Soti who plays the infuriating Chitra who has a constant pout. And then there is someone named Special, an aspiring actress. Aradhna Gupta, with her provoking dialogues and scantily clad outfits makes a fleeting impression. Of the supporting cast, the ever-reliable Mahesh Thakur stands out but the director decides to overdo his outfit and accessories making him resemble a certain Lahiri.

As if the screenplay is reliable, RGV appends way too many songs that threaten to altogether derail the pace of the narrative. The locales are pretty and the visuals are breathtaking in some of them but they don’t serve their purpose and only provide distraction from the tedium.

While the songs are non-descript, the film’s background score is simply a cacophony of sounds in varying notes. Not to mention, it is jarring and disturbs the flow of the movie. Vikash Saraf’s cinematography is inventive and the angles could have worked if the movie’s script served its purpose of executing a taut thriller. In the absence of it, Vikash’s efforts are like a lost ball in the high weeds. Also, the movie could have done with at least half an hour of editing for it to have a bearable length.

Satya 2 also brings to mind a lot of questions. Has the man credited with introducing Mumbai Noir to Bollywood lost his directorial charm? You could argue that his dismal track record in the recent past with insipid movies like Not a Love Story, Department and 26/11 only proves that point.

The man is unrelenting though. And hats off to him for that. But if he decides to relook at his scripts, brainstorm about his casting decisions and become more tuned with the current times, RGV could still work the proverbial magic. After all a film like Satya would not have happened out of an accident or miracle.